ARC Raiders Leveling Guide (XP Farming, Fast Levels & Skill Points)

Leveling in ARC Raiders is basically your “build unlock” system. You earn 1 skill point per level, and those points are what let you shape your character through the Skill Tree (Conditioning, Mobility, Survival). If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing raids nonstop but the levels still crawl, it’s usually because you’re focusing on the wrong XP sources—or dying right before the payout.

This ARC Raiders leveling guide breaks down how XP works, what actually gives the best returns, and how to level up fast without turning every raid into a coin-flip.

ARC Raiders Leveling Overview

The current max level in ARC Raiders is 75 (as of 17.12.2025). The important part: XP isn’t just “kills + quests.” The game tracks multiple categories and totals everything at the end of the raid. That means you can level efficiently even if you’re not chasing PvP every match.

In practice, leveling comes from four big areas:

• Quests / contracts
• Combat + damage dealt
• Looting / scavenging
• Time survived + successful extraction
• (Plus weekly trials, depending on what’s active)

If you want faster levels, you don’t need to be reckless—you need to be consistent.

How XP Is Calculated in ARC Raiders

After each raid, you’ll see a results screen where XP is split into categories. These are the core ones you’ll see most often:

• Scavenged – XP from searching containers, bodies, ARC fragments
• Damaged ARC – XP for damage dealt to ARC enemies
• Destroyed ARC – XP for finishing ARC units
• Time on Surface – XP for staying alive (roughly ~181 XP per minute)
• Safe Return Bonus – XP for extracting successfully

Your raid XP is simply the sum of those categories. So if you’re trying to farm XP in ARC Raiders, you want a run that stacks multiple categories at once: loot a lot, do some damage, stay alive, and extract.

One key detail: early leveling tends to feel steady because levels require around 10,000 XP at the start. That makes it easy to estimate: if you’re averaging 6–8k per safe raid, you’ll feel progress fast.

XP Sources and What They’re Worth

There isn’t one “best” XP method forever. The best approach is the one that you can repeat without constantly losing gear.

1) Quest XP (Big Spikes)

Once you’re past the basic intro tasks, quests become the biggest single injections of XP. Many mid/late quests reward ~5,000 to 30,000+ XP depending on difficulty. The downside: some objectives are oddly specific (certain enemy types, specific kill methods, etc.), which can slow new players down.

Best use: always load into a raid with a quest that matches what you already plan to do (loot route, ARC hunt, etc.).

2) Combat XP (Damage Matters More Than “Kills”)

ARC Raiders rewards damage, not just last hits. You’ll typically see:

• Small ARC (like Wasps): lower kill XP, decent damage XP
• Mid-tier ARC (Hornets, etc.): better total returns
• Heavy units (Rocketeers): strong kill XP and huge damage XP because they soak damage

Best use: fight what you can finish without draining all your ammo and meds. Heavy units are great XP, but they’re loud and they attract Raiders.

3) Scavenging XP (The “Quiet” Leveling Engine)

This is the secret sauce for players who want consistent progress: searching containers and bodies. Depending on the container/body, you’re often looking at ~200–500 XP per search, and some bigger ARC units can be looted in multiple parts—meaning one kill can turn into several scavenging XP hits.

A practical trick many players use: you don’t always have to fully loot everything—starting the search is often enough to trigger the XP. That makes “quick tap” scavenging a legit leveling strategy when you’re trying to stay safe.

4) Time + Extraction (Free XP, If You Don’t Throw It Away)

Even if you do nothing fancy, survival pays:

• Time on surface: about ~181 XP/minute
• Safe return bonus: commonly ~1,000–2,000 XP

This is why “almost extracting” feels so bad. If you die late, you lose the safe return bonus and you waste the run’s momentum. If your goal is fast leveling, clean extractions beat highlight plays.

Quick XP Reference

Here’s a simple reference based on what players commonly see on the end-of-raid screen:

• Mid-to-late quests: ~5,000–30,000+ XP
• Container searched: ~200–500 XP
• Time survived: ~181 XP/min
• Successful extraction bonus: ~1,000–2,000 XP
• Player kill: often ~500 XP + damage contribution
• Assist: around ~250 XP

(Values can shift with updates, balance changes, and different raid outcomes.)

How To Farm XP in ARC Raiders (Reliable Loop)

If you want consistent ARC Raiders XP farming, stop thinking in “one perfect raid” terms and start thinking in repeatable loops.

Before the raid

• Pick a quest that matches your plan (loot route vs ARC hunting vs PvP).
• Bring enough ammo, heals, and utility to finish fights and still extract.
• If you’re doing a loot run, aim for dense container areas and avoid the loudest hotspots.

During the raid

• Search everything: bodies, containers, ARC fragments. Quick searches add up fast.
• Don’t chase every fight—take the fights you can finish cleanly.
• If the raid seems picked clean (late spawn), still hit containers and bodies for the search XP.

The “best XP raid” pattern

A strong leveling raid usually looks like this:

1. Complete or progress a quest
2. Loot consistently (containers + bodies)
3. Deal meaningful damage (ARC or Raiders)
4. Survive long enough to stack time XP
5. Extract for the safe return bonus

Do that repeatedly and you’ll often land in the 5,000–10,000 XP per safe raid range, with much higher spikes when quests complete.

ARC Raiders Leveling Tips (Especially for New Extraction Players)

If you’re new to extraction shooters, leveling feels hard mostly because death feels expensive. These tips keep you leveling without burning out:

Prioritize survival over “speed runs”

A safe 6k XP extraction beats a risky run that ends with nothing. Leveling rewards consistency.

Plan your route early

Open the map, pick a direction, and keep an extraction plan in your head. Wandering is how you get trapped.

Don’t take resource-drain fights

Heavy ARC targets can be amazing XP, but if you burn all your meds and ammo, you’re basically donating your kit to the next team.

Use time XP properly

You’re gaining XP just by staying alive. Mix that passive XP with looting and you’ll level faster than pure sprint-and-shoot gameplay.

Stay consistent

ARC Raiders progression is a long game. Regular clean raids stack skill points faster than occasional “big runs” that end in disaster.

Levels Give You More Than Skill Points

Every level = a skill point, but leveling also fuels your overall progression loop. Over time you’ll be juggling:

• Skill tree progression (build power, speed, looting efficiency)
• Long-term challenges / mastery-style goals
• Cosmetics and progression tracks tied to in-game systems

Even when XP isn’t directly involved, higher levels and better skills make every raid smoother—meaning more safe returns, meaning faster leveling.

Conclusion

If you want to level up fast in ARC Raiders, don’t tunnel vision on kills. The best XP comes from stacking categories: loot consistently, deal damage when it’s smart, stay alive, and extract. Quests are your biggest spikes, but your real leveling speed comes from how often you can repeat clean raids without throwing your gear away.

And if you ever want to skip the grind entirely, misti.services also offers ARC Raiders help so you can focus on playing the fun part—testing builds and pushing your setup—without spending days farming skill points.